Diane Hoskins co-directed Gensler, the the biggest architectural firm in the world, for 20 years as co-CEO and global co-chairman – but she would describe her career path as anything but predictable.

In one commencement speech at MIT's School of Architecture and Planning on Thursday, Hoskins told graduating master's and doctoral students about her “off the mark” career. After graduating from school in 1979 with a degree in architecture, she dabbled in several fields, from architecture to design to business to real estate – before returning to architecture.

This “off-track” journey led him to become Gensler's co-CEO from 2005 to 2023 and the current global. co. She oversees Gensler's global platform and day-to-day operations, with 6,000 people in 55 offices in more than 100 countries.

^{Diane Hoskins. Photo: Mark Kauzlarich/Bloomberg via Getty Images}

“There was probably no point in my career when anyone would say I was on the right track or that I was on a predictable career path,” Hoskins said in the speech. “It was completely out of the way most of the time.”

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Hoskins first worked at a boutique architecture firm in New York after graduating from university, in what must have been a “dream job”.

The problem was, she didn't like it.

“I found myself dissatisfied and unfulfilled,” Hoskins said.

She moved back home with her parents and took a job at a department store perfume counter during the holiday season. A classmate saw him working and told him about a large architectural firm that was hiring.

Hoskins applied and got the job.

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After then working at architectural firms in Los Angeles and New York, Hoskins decided to switch to interior design. She later went to business school at UCLA, where she became interested in real estate. Hoskins worked at a real estate company for three years after getting her MBA, and then returned to architecture and eventually joined Gensler.

“It was a pretty high risk going from architecture to design to business to real estate and back to architecture,” Hoskins said.

She gained an edge because of her self-described “unconventional, off-the-beaten track” career: “I became an integrator of ideas,” Hoskins noted.

Hoskins said her experience allowed her to see how design and architecture relate to the real world, which is why she ultimately became Gensler's CEO.

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Hoskins urged MIT graduates to “build an impactful career” over the worry of being “on track.”